


Purple

by StupidCat



Category: One Piece
Genre: DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED, Don't read, Gen, It's also on fanfiction, So yeah, TERRIBLE WRITING -_-, expects this to sit her gathering dust, filler fic, imported from fanfiction.com, ooooold fic, set before Thatch's death, teach is still on crew, under name Purple - Montezumax
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-01-12 02:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1181021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StupidCat/pseuds/StupidCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An oooooold fanfiction i had started loading on fanfiction.com ages ago.</p>
<p>"Marty is a totally normal girl who bonks her head on a tree and ends up in the world of One Piece, yes it's one of those stories. It follows her journey, its ups, downs and side balls, might possibly end up AceXOC and MarcoXOC, it's my first fanfic, enjoy. Adventure, romance, friendship, you name it."</p>
<p>God that sounds so lame now but there you go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sleepiness

**Author's Note:**

> this fic started ages ago, i only picked up writing again recently - but i decided to leave all the original chapters as they were - embarrassing

"It's like someone covered her head in glue and then poured a bag of pasta over it," the two girls giggled hysterically as the teacher chased the two boys who had stolen her class role. Or she did until someone stuck out their foot. Books flew everywhere as she completely took out three desks, causing the two girls to gasp, then upgrade from giggles into full hysterical laughter.

"Marty, Marty did you see that?!" gasped Amber, elbowing the girl next to them.

"hmm.. what 'append?" said the girl jerking awake, she yawned and rubbed her eyes, blinking as she surveyed the damage. The teacher had picked herself up, and as the trio watched began screaming at the surrounding students.

"Who in their right mind would put a sub fresh out of uni on a senior class anyway," sighed Marty sleepily as she dropped her head back on her desk, preparing once again for sleep. She was _so tired_! When was she going to learn that watching 'just one more episode' till three in the morning was a bad idea. one piece was getting addictive.

Suddenly the door slammed open and three guys dashed into the classroom and began flinging water bombs at all people in sight. Marty was once again jolted awake when one exploded onto the back of her head soaking her brown hair to black as she jerked upright.

"Please children! Let's all settle down, and turn to chapter three of your workbooks!" the teacher said desperately, her voice staining to be heard above the issuing chaos.

**. . .**

"ACE, UP," Ace flew upright, head flicking back and forth searching for the commotions source. He zeroed in on the door, from which a large banging was now coming. Groaning he swung his legs out of bed, grabbing his hat of the way to the door. He pulled the door open to reveal Marco, whose hand was still raised to continue his assault on the door

"Wha-…-t" he yawned jamming his hat on his head. Marco dropped his arm, instead raising his eyebrow.

"… Its dinner time, I thought you might want to eat today," Ace woke up fully at this.

"I slept the whole day?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yep," Marco watching Aces look of disbelief as it changed into a grin.

"Oh well," he stretched, "last night was totally worth it." he said happily as he headed to the kitchen. Marco fell into step beside him.

"I hope so, you lot drunk our sake stores dry," Marco said as the entered the kitchen. Ace just grinned and began making his way towards the food, threading through members of the crew, many of whom were still supporting hangovers. Once they had collected food they joined the other commanders. Izo commander of the 16th division, one of the only two female commanders, was ranting in full swing on her favourite subject.

"I'm telling you, we need to be actively attempting to recruit more female members," she said determinedly as Ace and Marco sat down.

"We do look for girls, they just never seem to want to join," reasoned Thatch.

"They don't want to join because you spend an hour hitting beforehand!" Izo exclaimed indignantly, "you guys have to stop seeing females as a chance to get laid!" Haruta nodded in agreement. Marco sighed; this wasn't the first time for this conversation, it wasn't the twentieth either. Most women just didn't want to join a crew dominated by 1600 men.

"We should reach the next island tomorrow, there should be some females there if you want to try recruiting them," Marco said tiredly as Ace fell asleep into his dinner.

**. . .**

Marty held her arms out horizontal from her body as she walked along the wall. The street was mostly empty as stragglers hurried to get home before darkness fell.

"I can't believe we were there for three hours!" whined Amber walking slightly ahead of Marty on the footpath, with Mia keeping pace next to her, "I mean sure, this is the first time for a class to hold a water balloon fight indoors, but, three hours! My parents are going to kill me."

"It wouldn't have been so bad if a window hadn't been broken," said Marty only half concentrating on the conversation.

"Oh I totally forgot about the window, ack my parents will be at me till morning and then some," Amber threw her hands up in despair wailing dramatically, "you're so lucky Marty, your parents don't care what you get up to!"

"Mmm," said Marty wobbling slightly, her parents never wanted a kid. Marty was just seen as interference in their busy lives. She hadn't seen either of her parents for months; they were in France doing some business deal. Amber flipped her black hair, annoyed by Marty's non-answer.

"Hello, can I get a little sympathy here please?" Marty glanced upwards sensing Amber was going into a full on pity rant, and jumped down from the wall looking around for an escape.

"uuh, this way is a short cut to my house, sorry I need to get home," Marty said angling towards a random sides street, "I'll see you on Monday okay? Bye Amber, Mia." Waving over her shoulder she took off running down the darkening side street, leaving Amber looking slightly indignant behind her.

She kept running till she was around the corner and out of sight. Marty sighed, Amber and Mia were nice, well Mia was nice, but the three of them shared little interests and extremely different personalities. Urh, god if Amber ever discovered her near obsession for anime, she shuddered, she would _never_ hear the end of it.

Marty reached the edge of the creepy park that was a shortcut to her house. She looked up at the sky, she could go around, but it would be dark by the time she got home. Better to leg it through the trees while twilight still lingered. Pulling the hair-tie from her wrist, she dragged her hair into a pony tail before setting off through the trees at a run.

Shadows deepened with every step she took, the only noise in the creepy silence were her feet as the slapped a steady rhythm into the ground. After a minute of running Marty saw the lights of houses breaking through the trees and sped up. Suddenly her foot caught a root pitching her forward. Her head cracked against a tree. She slid sideways, everything turning black. Even as everything faded, Marty began to wonder why she hadn't hit the ground yet. In fact why did it feel like she was falling through the air?

**. . .**

Izo slammed her mug onto the table, causing the men surrounding her to wince. The last island has been a bust. They couldn't find a single female willing to join, and it had put the 16th division commander in a bad mood. Ace stretched and yawned having just awakened from his last Narcolepsy attack.

"There's nothing you could have done Izo," he said beginning to eat again, "you can't force them to join, and if they don't want to fight or be a pirate why would you want to anyway. Just try again at the next island." Izo turned her glare to him,

"The next islands a week from here," she said through gritted teeth.

"And you've been attempting to recruit females for over two years now," Marco said bluntly, entering the conversation. Izo huffed angrily, then grabbed her empty plate and left.

"For everyone's sanity and safety we need to find at least one girl at the next island willing to join," moaned Thatch, "even if it means kidnapping one."

**. . .**

The sunlight seared though Marty's eyelids, rousing her from her slumber. She opened her eyes slowly glaring at the sky as she forced them open. It took her a few second to realise that being able to see the sky meant she wasn't in her own bed. She shot up, looking around … wait. Why was she on a beach? Where did the beach come from? As far as she knew there wasn't a beach in her town. She looked behind her… last time she checked it wasn't surrounded by jungle either.

Where the hell was she?

Marty staggered to her feet. Owwwwwww, dam her head hurt. The last thing she remembered was the tree hitting her head, but she had been in the park near her house. Suddenly her stomach rumbled. She groaned she hadn't eaten since lunch… yesterday? How long had she been out? Marty shook her head, questions weren't helping, she had to find food. She looked around, scary jungle or flat beach. Then something at the jungles edge caught her eye. Was that… a giant… STRAWBERRY! Her mouth watered, she _loved_ strawberries. Marty ran over to the fruit, scooping it up, and then paused. Crisscrossing over the fruits skin were strange spiralling patterns, but her hunger got the better of her and she bit into the strawberry.

She was eating so fast she bypassed the stage of chewing and tasting, it wasn't till she finished the fruit that she noticed it's horrible taste. She gagged, coughing, desperately trying to wipe the taste from her tongue.

"Urrghhhgg, yuck!" she shuddered , gross! How could a strawberry taste this bad! How dare it! She shuddered again before returning her attention to her surroundings. She could walk along the beach on the small chance she came across a town, or try her luck in the jungle. The sun beating down on the back of her neck made the decision for her. With one last look along the shoreline, she set off into the shady canopy of the jungle, in the hope she would find civilisation eventually.

 


	2. Kidnap!

Could it be? Marty rubbed her sore eyes with hands covered in dry mud and slime. When she reopened her eyes the house nestled in the clearing was still there. In was small, brick, and round, with tiny windows. But it was real, and there was smoke coming out of the chimney.  
It was lunchtime the day after Marty had awoken alone on the beach, and after a day and night in the jungle the sight of the little house was making her tear up.  
Civilisation meant people, and people meant FOOD! Marty staggered to the cottage door and knocked three times… and then looked down at her filthy cloths and realised what she must look like. Her school uniform was ripped in several places, she was covered in mud and some sort of slime, and… when had she lost her left shoe? God knows what her hair must look like, it was still in a ponytail.  
The door creaked open, she stopped studying her clothes, instead watching as the door swung back to reveal an old women, he was wearing a pure white apron that matched her hair over a pale blue dress, she could have been someone’s grandmother, except….  
“Umm..” Marty stuttered out nervously, otherwise speechless. How was that even possible? The woman was like wise shocked at Marty’s own appearance, albeit less speech impaired.  
“Oh my dear look at you! Did you come through the forest?! Are you by yourself?!” she exclaimed. Marty blinked, dragged out of her stupor by the torrent of questions. She blushed.  
“Um yes I am, I mean, I did… Do you… could you spare some food?” she asked quietly embarrassed as her stomach won the fight for top priority. The woman was nodding before she even finished talking.  
“Of course my dear, come in come in,” Stepping aside so that Marty could enter, then closed the door behind her. One inside Marty stood still not wanting to dirty the woman’s lovely house. The she stood in a combination the bedroom, kitchen, and living room with a fire place nestled against the wall. There was a door opposite her leading to other room/rooms which she assumed included a bathroom.  
“Urr..” She started watching the woman bustle around the kitchen, obviously in her element, “My name is Marty.” The old dear paused to smile at the strange girl over her shoulder.  
“Pleasure to meet you Marty, my name is Donna,” she waved her arms at the table, “sit down dear, we’ll get you fed then into the bath I should think.” She said turning back to the stove. Marty walked carefully over to the table and did as she was instructed, attempting to touch as little as possible.  
“If you don’t mind me asking dear,” said Donna without turning around, “how did you come to be in the forest?” Marty looked at the table.  
“Well, I woke up on the beach yesterday morning,” she said slowly mulling over each word, ‘but as to how I came to be there I have no idea.”   
“You don’t remember?”  
“No ma’am” Donna put food on the table in front of the girl and watched smiling at the enthusiasm she ate it with.  
“Just Donna is fine… Where are your parents?” Marty halted eating for a few seconds to answer.  
“Overseas. They work overseas,” she said uncomfortably before resuming the attack on her food. Donna picked up in the sadness in her voice as she sat in the chair opposite.  
“That’s something we have in common then,” Marty looked up surprised to see Donna smiling sadly, “both my husband and daughter left me for the sea.” Marty pushed her empty plate out of the way.  
“Really? I’m sorry.” Donna shook her head  
“Don’t be, after all when the sea beckons you must heed its call,” she said rising to her feet to collect Marty’s plate, Marty followed brow slightly furrowed, where had she heard that before.   
Donna placed the dirty dishes in the sink then moved to her closet to find clothes for Marty.  
“Thank you for the food, “Marty said awkwardly, “er… if you don’t mind me asking, what do you mean by heeding the sea’s call?” Donna pulled a purple dress and undergarments from the cupboard and pushed the bundle into Marty arms.  
“To be a pirate dear, they set sail in search of the one piece,” Marty froze, or tried to, Donna was stronger than she looked, propelling the girl through the mystery door into a not-so-mysterious bathroom, “I hope you don’t mind dresses, but I thought it would match your hair, you can use the blue towel if you like,” She said smiling as she closed bathroom door.   
….What?  
Wait….WHAT!?  
The bright purple dress matched her hair…. her daughter was out searching for the one piece… and if you took into account Donnas appearance, the clothes tumbled out of her hands as she rushed over to the small mirror above the bathroom ink. Marty clapped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming.  
Her hair was purple, and just like Donna, she was an anime character. She was inside an anime, and she knew which one.  
. . .  
Marty hadn’t realised how much she had needed a bath. After the initial shock of her appearance and location, Marty started getting very excited. She. Was. In. ONE PIECE!  
Donna had just finished cleaning Marty’s dishes when the bathroom door opened. The strange girl emerged look very pretty in Amy’s purple sundress, she had such lovely hair. She had her dirty clothes bundled up in her arm’s looking unsure what to do with them.  
“Pass them here dear, I’ll put them in the wash basket,” said Donna, Bustling over to Marty arms outstretched. Marty handed her clothes over thankfully.  
“I can’t thank you enough Donna,” Marty said sincerely, “Please is there anything I can do for you in return?” Donna finished tossing the clothes into the basket, and turned to smile at the polite young girl.  
“Actually there is something you can do,” Marty Looked at Donna hopefully, “once a week I go into town to sell herbs and vegetables from my garden, I could use your help if you’d like.” Marty nodded eagerly, this is perfect! She would get to see the town, and repay Donna while she did it! Donna laughed at the girl’s enthusiasm.  
“Ok then, grab yourself a hat and a pair of shoes out of that cupboard and meet me outside, my daughters stuff is mostly on the left,” she said pointing at the cupboard as she head outside. Marty wandered over to the cupboard and opened its doors. Shoes lined the bottom. She grabbed a pair of black slip on shoe’s and tried them on. They were a bit tight, but otherwise fit perfectly. The hats were stacked one on top of the other, all piled on top of a hat stand, she flick through the first few, and then she saw it.  
It was a straw hat with a red ribbon wound around the base and tied in a big bow at the back. The ends of the ribbon trailed down a few centimetres over the edge of the brim. It was Luffy’s hat but a female version. Marty laughed, it had to be a sign. She jammed the hat on her head and followed Donna.  
. . .  
Marty’s jaw dropped, her eyes as big as saucers. Donna laughed at her expression.  
“Welcome to Billion’s cove. It is a popular trading port, all sorts of people wash up on our shore,” said Donna weaving through the crowd. Marty snapped her mouth closed and grinned, Donna wasn’t wrong. The pair made their way to the docks, where Donna claimed the best trading happened. They were setting up a stall when they first heard a commotion.   
“What..?” Donna said confused as people fled past in the opposite direction. Marty stood on her toes attempting to find its source, but those who weren’t fleeing had formed a wall around the noises to watch the chaos ensue.  
“Is that normal?” asked Marty, still straining to see over the spectators from where she was standing.   
“No,” said Donna worried. Marty glanced at the kind old woman, and grinned.  
“I’ll go have a quick look,” Mart volunteered, heading off towards the fuss, Donna looked at her retreating form startled.  
“Wait! Marty!” she exclaimed hurrying after the girl, her voice drowned out by the crowd. Marty ran up to spectator circle, trying to push her way through to the front. Maybe it’s a fight, she thought excitedly, a real live, devil fruit fight! Suddenly there was a gap in the crowd and Marty was thrust forward out of the audience into the open space. Suddenly rough hands grabbed her pulling her forward. One hand was clasped over her mouth to keep her from screaming, the other tightly clamped around her left arm. Marty looked at the men around her in fear. There was about 30, all dirty and haggard, like they hadn’t seen a full meal in a while, but strong and every single one supported a weapon of some kind.  
“Well aren’t you pretty,” crooned her captor, he dragged her over to a man she guessed to be the Leader, a tall black hair man with sallow skin and only one arm, and was held out for inspection. A curt nod had her thrown into a large cage already holding two other occupants. She spun around grasping the bars of the cage door starting out at the panicking spectators. At the edge of the crowd stood Donna staring at Marty in horror.   
“MARINES!” came the warning cry, jolting the rest of the men into action. Two burly members each grabbed onto of the cages sides and began hauling it onto a waiting ship. A hatch on the deck was thrown open and the cage was passed down to two waiting men who stowed it in a dark corner. This was all done without any care for the cages occupants who were supporting several bumps and bruises from the rough treatment. Marty untangled herself from another girl rushing to the side of the cage. She caught a glimpse of the crates and food supplies stored in the room around them before the hatch was pull closed and the room went dark. Sounds of many feet echoed above them as the crew made hasty preparations to leave the port.  
Marty turned around so her back was against the cage bars then slid down until she was in a sitting position, and for the first time took notice of the cages other inhabitants. There was two one looking to be about 16, the other maybe 19. The younger had hair that in the daylight was most likely platinum blond, styled into curly ringlets. She looked like a doll, all petite, blue eyed and made up in a floor length frilly dress with wrist length sleeves. Though it was hard to tell in the poor lighting, it looked like she was crying, but wow, even crying she was really pretty. The second girl was taller and more athletic looking than the first in faded, ripped short denim shorts and a white singlet stretched over a curvy figure. The most striking thing about this girl however was her short and spikey green hair and matching emerald eyes that crackled with intelligence.   
Also she had awesome boots.  
Marty shook her head a little; she was losing it, who cares how cool her boots are! They had just been kidnapped!  
“What will happen to us?” asked a prim sad voice, pulling Marty back into the issue at hand. She glanced at the Blond girl whom she assumed had spoken.  
“I’m not sure, i-..”  
“You’re to be sold as slaves.” Marty whipped her head around; a shape lurched up from behind the crates of food causing the blond girl to scream.  
“Oi, shut it titch,” growled the figure moving into the dim light filtering in through the cracks in the roof. The man stretched and yawned. His hair was long and greasy falling down to his shoulders, half covering his oily, sallow face. His clothes looked like they hadn’t been washed since their creation, the man himself probably hadn't seen a bath since then either.   
“There has been a demand for pretty young lasses in the industry,” He continued leering at the girls causing them to retreat slightly into the cage. He laughed, “don’t worry my lovely’s, nobody’s gonna touch ya’. Your merchandise after all. Enjoy the freedom you have left while you can.” Laughing the sallow man made his way to the hatch, and disappeared through the hole slamming the door back down behind him.  
. . .


	3. HE'S ON FIRE

. . .  
Three days had passed since Marty had been kidnapped from Billion’s Cove. Apart from bathroom breaks and the meals shoved through the cage bar’s the three girls had seen very little of the slavers crew.  
“My father will rescue me,” sniffed a doll-like girl with curly blond hair who had informed Marty her name was Charlene, though everybody called her Nee-nee, “He’s the mayor and a very important person.” Beth, a girl with short, pixie-like green hair, banged her forehead against the metal bars. It was the 27th time they had heard this speech. “He won’t leave me here, the Marines know he is an important person, they will be out looking for us.” Marty closed her eyes and rested the back of her head against the side of the cage causing her straw hat, which had somehow survived the kidnapping, to tip backwards.  
Marty still couldn’t believe this had happened. She had the good fortune to land in her favourite anime/manga, and she had winded up a slave. She echoed Beth’s sentiments lightly thumping her head against the bars, and then sat up frowning. Beth looked over, surprised at her sudden movement.  
“Marty wha-..”  
“SHH!” Exclaimed Marty holding up a finger still listening hard. Her fellow captives exchanged a worried glance, “… can you hear that?”  
“Hear what?” Huffed Nee-nee angrily. Beth frowned.  
“Yes actually, I do,” yelling? “What on ear-WHOA!” Beth exclaimed as an explosion rocked the whole ship, throwing the girls around the cage. Nee-nee screamed!  
“WE’RE UNDER ATTACK,” wailed the blond girl  
“Maybe it’s your bloody marine friends,” said Beth as the ship was thrown sideway by another explosion.  
“Of Course,” whooped Nee-nee, “they found me, I told you they would, I told you they would come.”   
“It won’t do us any good if they sink us,” Marty retorted angrily, she picked herself of the cage floor just in time for the third explosion. She was thrown backwards slamming her head against the bars causing her to use language that made Nee-nee look horrified and Beth impressed.  
“Whoever they are they are either terrible shots with a cannon or are planning to board this dung heap,” Marty complained rubbing the back of her head. On queue a shout rang out from overhead;  
“Board them!”  
“I told you they would rescue us,” swooned Nee-nee.  
“Board the Pirates!” continued the voice. Nee-nee face fell.  
“Out of the frying pan, into the fire,” said Beth calmly.  
. . .  
Ace had been having a perfectly pleasant nap when a ship was sighted on the horizon. He tipped his hat back to glare at the clear blue sky. Maybe he could fit a couple more minutes in, he thought moving to tipp his hat back down.  
“ACE! UP!” yelled Marco. Dang-nam-it.  
Marco kicked Ace on his way to the portside, ignoring the protest of “Oi!” that resulted. They were in desperate need of supplies if they wanted to make it safely to the next island. They had gone through a storm yesterday, and some ABSOLUTE HOT HEADED IDIOT had left a hatch into one of the store rooms open.   
Marco gestured at a crewmate and was handed his telescope. He appraised the ship carefully.  
“Commander,” Said the crewmate, “it’s not a pirate ship, nor is it a marine ship, and it’s too dodgy looking to be a passenger or merchant ship.”  
“Which means it’s probably a smugglers ship,” said Jozu, commander of the third division, coming up to stand on Marcos right side. Marco handed him the telescope, “That’s good for us because it means supplies.”  
“Why hasn’t anyone sunk it yet,” yawned Ace approaching Marcos other side. Marco took the telescope of Jozu and hit Ace with it.  
“It hasn’t been sunk yet because we need its supplies since you destroyed ours,” he said vein throbbing in his forehead. Ace rubbed the top of his head sulkily, gees you make one mistake…  
“Alright lads,” Whitebeard yelled from his usual seat on deck commanding the crews attention, “Ace, Marco, Thatch and Jozu, you boys search their storage rooms for food, equipment, sake, the rest of you, give ‘em cover, don’t let a single one of them on board, you hear me?” the crew roared their agreement. The ship was only a few meters away now.   
Ace watched the ship approach eagerly; well he wouldn’t be a D if he didn’t. He could hear snatched of calls from the other ship to, “Board them! Bard the Pirate ship!”   
He laughed. This, was gonna be fun.  
. . .  
The girls were thrown sideways as the ships rammed each other. The sounds of fighting breaking out over head slowly changed to screaming. Marty whooped,  
“HA, they’re in trouble now,” she said gleefully, Beth laughed in agreement.   
“Are you ACTUALLY ENJOYING this?” asked Nee-nee indignantly. Marty and Beth glanced at each other.  
“Hmm let me think,” hummed Marty.  
“They kidnapped us,” Beth supplied.  
“Locked us in a cage,” continued Marty.  
“Intending to sell us as slaves.”  
“They barely feed us anything.”  
“And we get only two bathroom breaks a day.”  
“So yeah, I’m enjoying this a little,” Marty finished bracing herself against the cage bars as explosions made the ship shudder, “anyway Nee-nee it could be way worse, they could be fighting down her-“  
And then the ceiling exploded, throwing the whole cage sideways with the girls still in it. Marty slammed against the side of the cage before it righted itself and gravity dragged her down to the floor. She could just barely hear Nee-nee screaming again over the ringing in her ears. Marty groaned. Me and my big mouth.   
. . .  
Where the hell was that awful noise coming from, wondered Ace looking around the store room he’d just blown into, was someone killing a cat? He turned in a circle, searching the room for the source of the noise. There were plenty of food crates, he concluded happily, then caught sight of the cage. Were there people inside? He walked towards the barred enclosure tentatively; at least he knew where the noise was coming from. The was a blond girl sitting upright in the cage, staring straight at him, hollering away at the top of her lungs.  
“Alright! ALRIGHT! SHUT UP!!” Ace hollered at her, surprised when it worked. Then he noticed the straw hat, “Luffy?! What the hell are you doing here!?” He ran over to the cage and grabbed his brothers shoulder, “Hey are you alr-“he pulled up short as the person wearing the hat turned to face him. It wasn’t his brother, hell it was even MALE. The girl looked surprised to see him and for a second Ace thought he saw a flash of recognition in her eyes, but it was gone before he could be sure it was there at all. Then the crazy blond chick got over the shock of being told to shut up.  
“HE’S ON FIRE!!” she screamed, and for some reason the girl wearing his brother’s hat found this extremely funny. She covered her mouth with her hand to smother giggles and bent her head forwards slightly. This enabled Ace to see the red bow on the back of her hat, meaning it wasn’t his brothers. He moved back from the cage slightly to get a better look at its occupants.  
“What are you three doing in there,” Ace asked crossly. The girl with the straw hat raised her eyebrows at his tone.  
“We’re on holiday, can’t you tell, we’re having such a jolly old time,” the straw had girl retorted. A girl with green hair moved up beside the first girl putting a hand on her shoulder.  
“We were kidnapped at the last port, a place called Billion’s cove,” she said quietly, “the crew planned to sell us as slaves.” Ace frowned, that named sounded familiar. Regardless he couldn’t just leave the girls in the cage, well maybe the blond one, who chose that moment to re-join the conversation.  
“M,M,MY DADDY is the Mayor of Billion’s and I order you to help us escape,” Marty grinned at the look of disbelief that crossed Ace’s face. Ace (the FIREFIST ACE) shook his head as if to clear it, then stood up and walked to the giant hole he had created.  
“Marco! Thatch! Jozu! Can I get some help down here please?” Ace yelled, and then returned to the cage.   
He knelt down in front of the cage door and proceeded to melt the lock.  
“You’re lucky the cage isn’t sea stone,” Ace said evenly as Marco, followed closely by Thatch and Jozu, jumped down through Ace’s hole.  
“What kno-… Who are they?” said Marco catching sight of the girls.  
“Kidnapped, on route to be slaves,” Ace summarised shortly, “can you get the supplies while I get them out of here?” Ace glanced behind him to see the commander already hard at work. Grinning he turned back to the cage door to see the girl in the straw hat had crawled over to watch him work, Seeing his glare she grinned and moved back to where the other girls were huddled.  
She’s weird, Ace decided, then grabbed the door and pulled back sharply to avoid hitting the girls with the hot molten metal. He gestured over his shoulder as the hatch and ladder.  
“Out.”  
The blond chick wasted no time, racing to be the first out of the cage, leaving the other girls to follow more calmly behind. Blondie ran over to the hatch then halted hearing the sounds of battle overhead.  
“One of you goes first,” she demanded pointing at the other girls.   
Marty sighed and pushed past Nee-nee to reach the ladder. She had just begun climbing when Ace grabbed her Arm.  
“I’ll go first,” he said calmly. Marty blinked and nodded her understanding and waited for Ace to let go of her arm.  
“Race you,” she said and shot up the ladder.   
Marco who had been watching the exchange burst out laughing at the indignant look on his friends face. He wasn’t the only one either. The pretty green haired girl giggled.  
“After being caged for days, one is less likely to obey orders,” she said smiling then followed the first girl. Blondie looked at the ladder then at Ace.  
“Come back and retrieve me once it’s safe,” the girl ordered, Ace looked at her in disbelief.  
“What is wrong with you girls?” He wondered, then grabbed her round the waist and dragged her kicking and screaming up the ladder onto the upper deck.   
. . .   
Upon climbing onto the upper deck, Marty found the nearest weapon which happened to be a plank of wood, and proceeded enthusiastically join in beating up the slavers. Beth was right behind her with her own plank of wood and Ace brought up the rear dragging a screaming Nee-nee.  
Ace couldn’t believe his eyes, he could understand Blondie, but how did this lot manage to capture straw hat and the green pixie? While not overly impressive they were holding their own, hitting everything that dared to move with their planks.  
“PUT! ME! DOWN!,” demanded the Blondie. As just grinned at the squirming girl and moved over to the ships railing, “What, what are you doing?! Don’t you dare throw me overboard!” Ace ignored her, it was simpler that way.  
“Oi RORY,” Ace yelled, a big lad appeared on the Moby Dick’s deck.  
“What is it Commander?”  
“CATCH.”  
“WHAT!!! DON’T, NO, WAIT!!!” Blondie screamed as Ace drew his arm back then hurled her over the gap between the two ships. She screamed as she flew, using some very inventive words that Ace had never heard before and filed away for future use. She reached the Moby Dick and was caught flawlessly by Rory. It was quiet for a few seconds; Ace began to wonder if she’d fainted.  
“YOU. BASTARD!”  
Ace Laughed, nope, he wasn’t that lucky.   
. . .


	4. Wannabe Cowboy

Marco dragged the food crates out though the hole Ace had created.  
“Is that the last one?” He called down to Jozu, leaning back to avoid having his head cut-off. He stuck out his foot which his charging attacker tripped over falling screaming through the hole knocking himself out.  
“Yep,” said Jozu pulling himself out, Thatch chose to use the ladder.  
“YOU. BASTARD!” Marco raised an eyebrow looking over his shoulder to see Ace standing alone at the ships railing bent over with laughter.  
“He doesn’t know how to treat a lady,” said Thatch disapprovingly moving to pick up his share of the supplies. Marco grabbed two crates, hefting one onto his shoulder, and then marched over to Ace who was wiping away tears of mirth as he listened to the blonde girl from the cage screaming for his bloody murder.  
“…wasn’t there two other girls?” He asked, as they were not visible on the deck of the Moby Dick. Ace turned leaning against the railing.  
“They got distracted,” Ace said glaring over Marcos shoulder. Marco turned in the direction of his gaze to see Straw-hat and Pixie ganging up on the smuggler captain. They were taking turns whacking the man with… were those planks of wood? Marco laughed.  
“Interesting girls.”  
“Weird girls,” Ace corrected grumpily.  
“Pot calling the kettle black,” Marco replied repositioning his load and began walking back to the ship, “you’d better fetch them, this battle is over.”   
Ace glanced around, Marco was right; the only people still fighting were the girls. He sighed, then wandered over to the pair.  
“… You can stop now,” He said, causing the two girls to halt the attack allowing their target to escape.  
“He’s getting away!” said Straw-Hat outraged, looking all set to pursue the man, but was pulled up short once again by Ace’s hand on her arm.  
“… If you’re planning on hitching a ride with us you should come now,” Ace said frowning. Pixie shrugged.  
“Fine,” she said calmly and hurled her plank striking the Captain in the back of the head knocking him unconscious. Marty cheered, Ace grabbed Pixie with his free arm and began dragging them towards the Moby Dick before they could cause any more trouble.   
. . .  
Marty was still holding onto the plank of wood she scavenged from the smugglers ship as she stared at the man before her in awe. She hugged the plank, Marty had known whitebeard was gonna be big but… whoa.  
Whitebeard shooed away a nurse attempting to relieve him of his sake and studied the three young ladies before him.   
“Why don’t you tell me what you were doing on a smuggler ship,” Whitebeard suggested, though it sounded more like a command. Marty glanced at Beth hesitantly, she was the oldest after all.  
“You see-…” Beth started, her voice only slightly unsure, before being cut off by Nee-nee.  
“Whitebeard,” the girl stepped forward, curtsying gracefully, “My name is Charlene Alexandra Caitlyn Edborough.”  
“Her initials spell cake,” Marty muttered out the side of her mouth, Beth coughed to hide her laugh.  
“My father is the Mayor of Billion’s Cove,” Nee-nee the cake continued importantly.  
“28,” the girls chorused under their breath, Whitebeard frowned confused, did he just hear that correctly.  
“And it was from there three days ago that I was rudely captured by those vagabonds. I was brutally thrown into a cage and stowed below deck. We were later informed by a member of their crew that we were intended to be sold as slaves.” The girl straightened out of her curtsy, straightening her soiled, ripped dress, “I ask that you please provide us with a passage back to our home.” She concluded. Beth raised an eyebrow while Marty shrugged, if nothing else Nee-nee the cake was well spoken. Whitebeard was similarly interested by the girl’s ability with words. His gaze shifted to the girls behind her.  
“and your names?”  
“Beth if you please,” replied the elder calmly.   
Watching the exchange from his place with the commanders, Marco raised an eyebrow impressed. It was rare for a person to be so relaxed when brought under Pop’s gaze for the first time.  
“Do you require the same passage?” Whitebeard asked taking a swig of sake, Beth smiled.  
“The closet island on your log post would do.” Whitebeard laughed at her collected tone.  
“Guarararara, Billion’s Cove is the next island on the log post we make port at,” he said. Ace smacked his face in realisation, that’s where he had heard the name from. He looked up to see Straw-hat watching him curiously. No not Straw-hat, that was his brother’s calling card, not hers.  
“Well what’s you name purple?” Ace demanded, staring daggers at the girl, who matched his glare.  
“It’s rude to ask for someone’s name without first suppling your own, wannabe cowboy,” she shot back startling some of the crew into laughter, including whitebeard.   
“It is indeed,” He chuckled, “I am Whitebeard.” The girl met his gaze evenly with eyes that matched her hair.  
“Marty,” she said simply, then broke into a huge smile dissipating any leftover tension, “call me Marty.”  
“A pleasure,” said the pirate captain, “Well then Marty, Beth, Charlene, I can offer you a safe passage with us to Billion’s cove,” Charlene clasped her hands together in joy, “I also would like to extend an invitation to join my crew and become my daughters. You don’t have to give me an answer now,” he smiled at the looks of surprise on the girl’s faces, “You may have till we reach port to decide.” Over in the commanders Haruta smiled in delight. That was three whole days! She could convince at least one to join by then!  
“For now the three of you may share the spare commander’s room. Ace, Marco,” he said gesturing for the men to approach, which they did, “these are the commanders of my first and second division. Show the girls the way.” He said in dismissal, watching Marty and Ace eyeing each other off.  
“Sure Pops,” Marco said when Ace failed to reply. Ace turned on his heel and began walking without checking to see if he was being followed. Marco motioned for the girls to go first and brought up the rear.   
. . .  
“The commanders sleep in private chambers, separate from the rest of the men,” Marco explained as Ace led them down a hallway with doors stretching along either side of the corridor. They stopped at the last door on the left.  
“The rooms have a personal bathroom and shower,” Ace said opening the door then stepping out of the way to let the girls in, “there’s only one bed but there should be a futon in the cupboard.” He leaned against the doorframe, Marco moved up beside him.  
“If you need any help, I’m in the room across the hall and Ace is next door,” said Marco watching the girls inspect their lodgings. Beth glanced up from the small port hole on the wall.  
“Actually, if it’s not too much trouble, do you think we could borrow some clothes?” She asked,” ours are, well…” she trailed off glancing down at herself, her once white singlet was brown and ripped, her pants were in a likewise condition and the other girls didn’t look any better. Marco and Ace glanced at each other uncomfortably.  
“Uh, sure, clothes, um…” Marco tailed of unsure, when a quiet voice came from behind him.  
“I can help with that,” the men turned to see one of Pop’s nurses standing behind them with a bundle of clothes. She squeezed through the men, moving into the room to tip the clothes onto the bed.  
“My name is Martha,” she said clasping her hands behind her back. She looked to be about 18, with bright red hair and a spray of freckles across her nose, “the nurses quarters are situated at the end of the hall if you ever need anything,” she said smiling before leaving the way she came.  
“Thank you!” Marty called after her retreating figure as Charlene and Beth began sorting through the clothes. Marco watched he go before returning his attention back to the girls.  
“Dinner is in a few hours,” he said calmly he stepped back out of the doorway pulling Ace behind him, “we will come and fetch you then,” and with that the door was shut behind them.  
Marty frowned at the closed door.  
“Why does it feel like we traded one cage for another?” Beth shrugged.  
“At least this one comes with clean clothes and a shower.”   
. . .  
Marty stared at the ceiling bored out of her mind. It had taken thirty minutes for the girls to shower and change. Well actually it had taken Beth and Marty a total of 6 minutes, but that still left them with a couple spare hours before dinner. Marty rolled over till she was face down on the futon she and Beth were sharing, (Nee-nee the cake had claimed the bed and demanded they stop calling her that). The purple dress that Donna had given her was gone, she was now wearing a black singlet and short pants that were a little tight, but bearable. The straw hat that she had taken from Donna’s house was still in good shape and was sitting beside her. Beth had chosen a white t-shirt and similar shorts to Marty, while Nee-nee had on a knee length blue skirt and sleeveless blouse. Their shoes had all managed to survive with minimal damage and hadn’t needed replacing.  
“MMMPPPHHHFFF,” Marty screamed into her pillow making the other girls jump, before pushing herself up onto her hands and knees, “that’s it I’ve already endured three days of sitting still.” She climbed to her feet, grabbing her hat as she went, and walked over to the door.  
“Where are you going,” asked Nee-nee the cake sharply sitting up on her bed.  
“Field trip.”  
“They said they would come and fetch us!”  
“Then they should have locked the door,” Marty replied, pulling it open. She looked over her shoulder, “are you coming or not?”  
“Not,” said The Cake stiffly, but Beth grinned pushing herself to her feet.  
“Lead on,” and with that the two girls pulled open the door and, after checking to see it was empty, slipped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind them.


	5. Finger of doom

Ace ran down the hallway, Marco following close behind with a look on his face somewhere between amusement and disbelief. If it really was them they had managed to do a suprising amount of damage in just two hours. Ace reached the end of the hallway, screeching to a stop and wrenched the door opened. Charlene screamed in surprise and fell off the bed. Ace paused confused… they were still here? Marco peered over his shoulder.  
“… Where is Beth and Marty?” he asked causing Ace to notice the distinct lack of green and purple in the room. The blond girl, Charlene, pushed herself off the floor and stood facing the two commanders with her hands on her hips.  
“They left, I’m not their babysitter you know,” Ace looked at the girl in shocked disbelief, while Marco face palmed.  
“We said we would come and get you when it was dinner time, why would they want to leave the room,” Marco groaned, “Where are they?” Charlene frowned.  
“You’re not their babysitters either,” Marco looked up surprised at the petit girl who suddenly looked angry.  
“That’s not what I-“  
“Are we prisoners?” Charlene demanded cutting him off.  
“Well… no but,”  
“Are we confined to this room for the entirety of this voyage?”  
“…No,” Charlene crossed her arms.  
“Then I ask you stop acting like we are children and you our Nurse Maids,” she said primly, “there was no indication we needed your permission to step out through that door. We aren’t planning or aiming to cause you any trouble-…” An explosion rocked the ship cutting of Charlene’s rant.  
“Are we being attacked!?” Charlene exclaimed fearfully. Marco swore, what now, damn those two. Ace look of disbelief disappeared as he burst into laughter. He had to hand it to those three; he was impressed, in both the terrible twosome and Madam Blondie.  
Going by all this madness Purple had helped instigate today, maybe she did deserve to wear that straw hat.  
One and a half hours previously  
Marty peeked her head around the door, her eyes growing wide. Beth pushed her head down a little so she could see.  
“Uuwwwaaa…” She said in amazement, “such a huge kitchen!”  
“Well you aren’t wrong,” whispered Marty. The kitchen would have been the size of two basketball courts when laid down end to end. Over a hundred cooks were going about their business, shaping raw ingredients into delicious meals.   
“So many skilled cooks in one place,” Beth observed quietly, leaning forward slightly to get a better look. A flash attracted Marty’s attention. She shifted her gaze slightly to watch a line of cooks flambéing …. Well something, she wasn’t sure what. But they were using frying pans, and it was a spectacular sight.  
“Beth Look!” She exclaimed softly sweeping her arm up to point out the skilled cooks. Beth watched her arm rise and was looking at the cooks by the time it settled on them.  
Then the flambés exploded, fire roared out of the pans scraping the ceilings, setting it alight in some places, merely blackening it in others. Cook’s everywhere began screaming as flaming food rained down from above.   
Beth and Marty stared at the scene before them, then down at Marty’s still outstretched hand.   
“Did… You… Just..?” Beth asked uncertainly.  
“Urrrr,” answered Marty uncertainly, looking at her finger like shed never seen it before.  
“Get water!” Roared a particularly large cook with curly hair and an enormous hat, “You there, go fetch the nurses!”   
“Uh oh,” said Beth as one of the cook’s began running in their direction. She grabbed the hand Marty wasn’t still staring at and dragged her backwards; the girls sprinted back the way they had come. The cook reached the door just in time to see the two girls disappearing around a corner.   
. . .  
“AAAAACE,” roared Head Chef Pinnako storming into the store room where Ace was helping to stow the last of the new supplies. Ace’s head snapped up in response to his name, he knows I swapped the tomato sauce for Tabasco he thought.  
“You can’t prove anything!” He cried jumping to his feet, “I mean – what brings you to grace us with you presence Head Chef?”   
“What the hell’re you thinking pulling a dangerous stunt like that in my kitchen! You’re lucky no-ones hurt or else your backside would be in my pot!” He roared stopping a meter away from Ace who blinked surprised. Did someone down the whole bottle? “Now I’ve got frying pans to replace, cooks who are distraught at losing their eyebrows, and burns across my bloody kitchen ceiling for God’s sake.” Spectators who had started gathering the moment Pinnako hand thundered in began to laugh, to both the Chef’s and Ace’s bemusement.  
“Whoa whoa back up Chef!” exclaimed Ace throwing his hands up confused, “Since when could Tabasco sauce burn people’s eyebrows off?” Ace was surprised to see Chef Pinnako looking taken aback.  
“Tabasco sauce? Who said anything about Tabasco Sauce? What are you talking about?”   
“… What are you talking about?”  
“The fire show you decided to pull, you’re the only one on the ship who could have made those fires explode without stimulant,” the cook insisted stating to look unsure at the confused look dawning on the young commanders face.  
“… Chef, I have been any where near your kitchen today, let alone tampered with it,” Ace said frowning, “and I would never ever mess with a cooks fire.” Jozu, who had been watching from the sideline till now stepped forward to back him up.  
“He’s telling the truth Chef,” hummed the large man. The anger drained out of Pinnako’s face as confusion took hold of his features.  
“Then what the hell just happened in my kitchen?”   
. . .  
The girls sprinted around the corner to collapse in a heap on the floor gasping for air.  
“What the HELL just happened in that kitchen,” Beth wheezed. Marty shook her head sucking in deep breaths.  
“I don’t.. I just..” She waved her hand in Beth's direction. The older girl yelped and batted away her arm.  
“Oh no, don’t you go pointing you’re finger of doom at me!”  
“It was a coincidence,” Marty insisted. Beth looked thoughtful for a moment before pointing to the wall opposite them.  
“Try to set the wall on fire,” she suggested. Marty looked at Beth sceptically before turning her gaze on the wall. She raised her hand and pointed at the wall.  
“…” Marty turned back to Beth who was watching the wall stubbornly refuse to explode.  
“Ok, so coincidence,” she agreed after a few seconds, Marty nodded then got to her feet.  
“Let go find a room where things don’t explode.”   
. . .  
“… How did we end up in here?” whispered Beth, Marty shifted her weight and pulled her legs up more securely.  
“Fate hates us? I blame Nee-nee the Cake,” Marty glanced at Beth to see her looking at her with raised eyebrows, “Don’t look at me like that! I thought this was the girl’s bathroom, and I didn’t hear you complaining!” Beth shushed her as the last shower was turned off another pair of footsteps past by the cubicle door. Thank god the toilets at least were in cubicles. Marty was just about to climb down from the toilet seat when the bathroom door banged open and another wave of boys rushed in, pushing and fighting for the best showers.   
Marty swore under her breath and quickly pulled her legs back up. Beth groaned.  
“Take me back to the exploding kitchen,” she begged dropping her forehead onto her knees.  
“How weird was that accident in the kitchen?” asked one of the boys loudly catching the girls attention, they glanced at each other nervously.  
“Do you reckon it was a prank?” asked another  
“If it was I wanna know who pulled it off,” Put in a third  
“It had to be Ace, I mean exploding fire? Who else could pull it off under Pinnako's nose?”  
“Yeah but it’s not really Ace’s style, remember that interdivision glitter war he started?” the girls covered the mouths to stop laughter escaping. Glitter war?  
“Speaking of Ace what about those girls he brought on board today? Dam that green hair one was fine.” Beth stopped laughing and looked insulted, while Marty’s sides began to hurt from supressed laughter.  
“You think they will stay on? After we reach port I mean.”  
“I dunno a crew of 1600 men would be daunting to me if I was a girl… has someone been in that toilet cubical the whole time we’ve been here?” Silence fell except for the sounds of rushing water, as both the boys and girls froze. Footsteps approached the cubical and the door rattled with knocking making the girls jump.  
“Hello!” Called the knocker loudly, any second now the guy was gonna look under the door.  
“Come one shower explode or something!” Hissed Beth suddenly, “work with me here.” Marty rubbed her forehead agreeing whole heartedly when suddenly there were several large bangs accompanied by shocked cries from the showering boys, then the sound of rushing water filled the room.  
“Dammit! All the shower heads came off! Turn off the water!”  
“I can’t it won’t turn off!”  
The boys were swearing in harmony as steam filled the room. It was soon so thick Marty had trouble making out the cubical door.  
“I can’t see anything!” yelled one of the men jolting the girls out of their shock. They jumped off the toilet and reached open the cubicle door, running flat out in the direction they hoped was the exit. The floor was a foot deep with water making it difficult for the girls to run. Then the exit was in front of them. Beth went through first. Marty went to follow but tripped in the water.  
“Crap! Go away!” She hissed, staggering to her feet she flung her arms out behind her. The water around her rose up and as a wave flew back into the bathroom behind her, slamming into the already panicking crew mates.  
“What the f-!”  
“Help I can’t swim!”  
“Get off me you idiot!”  
Marty stood there in shock. She rubbed her eyes, was the steam making her see things? She shook her head then ran out of the bathroom after Beth.  
She found her waiting outside soaking wet looking back into the bathroom very confused.  
“Did I do that?” she asked berwildered. Marty shook her head and looked up at the ceiling.   
“While I don’t mind the when the mood flip flopping gets us out of trouble, I would really like you to make up your mind to whether you hate us or not fate,” she grumbled, Beth cracked up laughing as shouts reach the corridor.  
“I think we need to leave,” she grinned, “this is becoming a habit” the girls sprinted down the corridor. The rounded a corner pasting a member of the crew running in the opposite direction.   
The man paused and turned to watch the girls disappear around the corner.   
Why were they soaking wet?   
. . .  
“Please tell me you didn’t have a part in this,” said Marco walking up behind Ace who was studying the kitchen ceiling.  
“Not this time.” Marco sighed and glanced around at the cooks.   
“Did anybody see someone in the kitchen who shouldn’t have been there?” Marco’s question was met with shaken head’s. Marco sighed again, great whoever the prankster was they would just have to hope he’d had enough fun. Fat chance of that.  
“Actually,” Marco looked up at Jim, a young chef who was frowning thoughtfully, “i saw two people looking through the kitchen doorway just before the fire in the pan’s exploded, and they were gone when I next looked.” But another cook was shaking his head dismissively.  
“I saw them two, they were just scared off by the fires.” Jim shrugged uncaringly accepting the point, when Thatch stuck his head though the very same doorway they had just been discussing.  
“All the shower heads in the bathroom on this floor have blown off and the room was flooding,” he said catching sight of Marco and Ace.  
“Was?!” Marco said in disbelief, Thatch nodded.  
“They managed to shut off the water a few minutes ago,” he said, “I’m just spreading the word so people avoid there.” And with that he withdrew.  
Ace shook his head.  
“What the hell is going on with this ship today?”


	6. Grass Skirts

Whitebeard sat in his usual place on the deck watching his children preparing to drop anchor for the night. Ignoring the griping of his nurses he took a long draught of Sake, and returned his attention to the agitated son standing before him.   
“So basically,” Whitebeard summarised, “in the space of an hour, someone or a group of someone’s has set fire to the kitchen ceiling and multiple sets of eyebrows, as well as causing all the showerheads in the bathroom to break and flood the room.”  
“And we have no idea who’s responsible, or even if someone is responsible,” concluded Thatch rubbing his temple. “Ace swears he wasn’t behind the kitchen incident and Jozu backs him. Even if he was, I don’t see how he pulled of the trick with the showerheads. He doesn’t understand plumbing.”  
“Could it be a devil fruit user?” White beard glanced up as Marco and Ace approached. “It could go a long way to explaining what the hell is going on,” continued Marco. Whitebeard considered this.  
“I know of no fruit users on this ship who would be capable of both of these acts, one or the other maybe, but not both,” Whitebeard said gruffly, taking another mouthful of sake. “It could be a new fruit user, one who-!” he was cut short as a gust of wind slammed into the sail which a group of men were currently in the process of raising for the night. The force of the sudden gale ripped open the sail, wrenching the rope right out of the crews hands or in some cases, taking the crew member along for the ride. The sail fully inflated with a snap, jerking the ship violently sideways. Then the sail went limp and it was over as quickly as it had begun. Sailors scrambled for their ropes or were lowered onto the deck, as they once again began the process of tying down the main sail.  
Whitebeard laughed startling the three commanders in front of him.  
“If it is a new fruit user, it looks like they are not totally aware or in control of their ability’s yet,” Whitebeard chuckled, “Abilities that look to be quite powerful.”  
Marco frowned and turned to Ace, about to comment then pulled up short at the look on his face. Marco followed his gaze confused to the landing above them, it was empty and the doors were closed. He glanced back at his friend.  
“Ace?” Ace met his gaze.  
“Either I’m going crazy,” he said slowly, “or I just saw someone with purple hair disappearing through the door on the right.” Marco blinked and realised what Ace was suggesting.  
“Oh hell.”  
. . .  
Marty and Beth poked their heads over the railing.  
“What do you think they’re talking about,” Marty asked watching Thatch gesture as he talked.  
“Probably what everyone else is talking about,” reasoned Beth, then caught sight of the 1st and 2nd division commanders approaching, “ah, oh no.” The girls ducked down slightly.  
“I’m not sure how they will feel about us not being in the room,” Beth said quietly.  
“They’re not our babysitters!” growled Marty.  
“Still,” Marty puffed her cheeks out in annoyance.  
“Fine,” letting her breath out in a huff, Marty stood to go, “Lets- WHOA!” the ship jerked to the side as cries rose up from the men who had been attempting to tie down the sail. Marty picked herself up using choice words while Beth stared at the strange straw hatted girl. She had seen that gust of wind pick up of nowhere, and it had appeared directly in front of Marty. Beth stood, grabbing the other girl’s hand she dragged her through a door which slammed behind them.   
. . .  
Ace ran down the hallway, Marco following close behind with a look on his face somewhere between amusement and disbelief. If it really was them they had managed to do a surprising amount of damage in just two hours. Ace reached the end of the hallway, screeching to a stop and wrenched the door opened. Charlene screamed in surprise and fell off the bed. Ace paused confused… they were still here? Marco peered over his shoulder.  
“… Where are Beth and Marty?” He asked   
. . .  
“Beth! Wha-!” exclaimed Marty as she was hauled down a flight of steps. Beth didn’t answer, instead began peeking through doors until she came across a room empty of people. She pulled Marty inside and shut the door. Marty glance around, they were in a store room mostly filled with sake, dry goods, and … why was there a box filled with grass skirts. Marty shook her head then turned her gaze back to Beth who was looking at her oddly.  
“Why are we-“  
“Are you a devil fruit user?” Beth cut her off. Marty blinked surprised.  
“Huh?”  
“That explosion in the kitchen, the thing in the bathroom and just now,” Beth continued watching her closely, “did you do it?” Marty looked confused.  
“I… I don’t … I’m not sure?“ Beth sighed.  
“In the kitchen, when you pointed at the chefs, what were you thinking?”   
“I was thinking,” Marty looked slightly sheepish, “that it would be cooler if the flames were bigger.”  
“And in the bathroom?” Beth pressed on.  
“Well, you said you wanted the showers to explode,” Marty said slowly, “and… I agreed?” she finished unsure. Beth nodded.  
“Also…” Marty continued causing Beth to look up curious, “after you ran out I, well,” Marty scratched her head, “I think I threw water without actually touching it.” Beth frowned thinking. She then walked over to a pile of supplies and began searching. Marty Watched apprehensively.   
Her? Eaten a Devil Fruit? That would be awesome if it was true. But when? Marty was distracted from her thoughts when Beth straightened up with a candle in one hand, and matches in the other.  
She put the candle onto of a one of the crates of alcohol.  
“Try light the candle,” Beth requested then stood back to watch. Marty looked at her in disbelief then at the candle.   
“Point at it like in the kitchen,” Beth urged. Marty looked again at her totally serious face, and then pointed at the candle.  
Nothing happened.   
Beth stepped forward with her matches and lit the candle, the returned to where she had been standing.  
“Try again, but instead of willing it to light, will it to get bigger” Beth said watching Marty closely.  
“Beth I don’t think-“  
“Please, just humour me one more time,” Beth requested. Marty sighed, looking sceptically at the little burning flame.  
Once again, Marty pointed at the candle.   
. . .  
An explosion rocked the ship, cutting of Charlene’s rant.  
“Are we being attacked!?” Charlene exclaimed fearfully. Marco swore. What now? Damn those two. Ace’s look of disbelief disappeared as he burst into laughter.   
“If we aren’t being attacked what was that?” Demanded Charlene. Marco shook his head in disbelief.  
“Shut up Ace,” he growled at the man who was bent over with laughter, “we have to go and do damage control,” he turned to the blond girl who was looking very confused, “please, for the love of god, please, stay here until we can come and get you.” Marco grabbed Ace by his necklace and dragged him in the direction of the explosion.  
“GAH, *cough* OK! OK! Lemme go!” Gasped Ace who Marco promptly released dropping him to the floor. Ace jumped up and followed the older man rubbing his neck. They came round the corner at a run to see they had been beaten to the scene by several crew members including Jozu and Haruta. Marco pushed crew members out of the way; Ace following close behind, coming to a stop in the open doorway.   
The door had been blown off its hinges, and the door frame was badly damaged and blackened. The floor was covered in explosion marks and what smelt like sake. Out of the six crates of sake that Marco remembered being stored in this room, only two remained completely intact. The air smelled like flour which obviously had contributed to the explosions size. Marco took all this in, in about five seconds before turning to see Beth climb coughing out of a crate of grass skirts. Miraculously unharmed, she was covered in black powder from head to toe as a result of the blast. She looked up somewhat guilty at her audience, before glancing around frowning.  
“Marty?” she croaked as Marco noticed the girls absence.  
“Hey Purple!” Ace called a little louder, coming up behind Marco, “you dead?” The trio began to worry when a groan sounded, and a pile of rope shifted to reveal the girl.  
“Stop the world,” She moaned, putting her hat back onto her head, “I want to get off.” Marco’s relief at seeing both girls alive quickly faded to anger. He sighed then walked over to grab the girls by their arms.   
“Come on you two,” He said dragging the girls behind him while Ace once again brought up the rear. They pushed through the onlookers and made their way back to the girl’s room. They were dragged through the open door and dropped onto the bed. Charlene had been sitting at the desk when they entered but stood up when she saw their blackened appearance.  
“What the hell did you two do?” She said amazed looking between them. Marco folder his arms while Ace closed the door and leant against it.  
“That’s what I would like to know,” the first division commander said. Beth ran her hand through her hair which was sticking out even more than normal.  
“Marty pointed at a candle,” She said.   
“And the candle exploded!” Marty finished swaying slightly, Beth nodded in confirmation.  
Marco looked at the pair confused.  
“Why did the candle explode?” he asked.  
“Because I pointed at it,” Marty repeated as if it explained everything.   
“Why did the candle explode when you pointed at it?” Marco rephrased. The girls looked at each other.  
“I have no idea,” said Marty.  
“I’m not too sure myself,” agreed Beth, Marco sighed in frustration; he closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was getting them nowhere with both girls still disorientated from the explosion.   
“Ok, let’s start with an easier question,” Ace took over, amused at the look on Marcos face, “Why did you girls leave the room?” Both girls looked thoughtful.  
“We had already been locked in a cage with Nee-nee the Cake for three days,” supplied Beth.  
“And the ceiling was boring to look at,” decided Marty.   
“Hey!” said the Cake, “and stop calling me that! My father is the Mayor of Billion’s Cove and-“   
“29,” the blackened girls cut in cheerfully.  
“Ok! Ok,” Ace said, stilling any further comments, “what about that incident in the Kitchens, did you have something to do with that?”  
“Actually, we’re not sure,” said Beth shaking her head slightly as if to clear it.  
“How can you be not sure,” asked Marco opening his eyes.  
“Well,” Marty said taking up the conversation, “Weird stuff had been happening all day.”  
“Just like the fire in the kitchen,” Bell said, starting to sound like she was back to normal.  
“And the water in the bathroom,” Marty continued.  
“And that huge gust of wind up on the deck a couple of minutes ago,” Beth finished.  
“Wait,” Marco said, while Ace looked surprised, “You were responsible that too?” Beth frowned and looked at the girl next to her.  
“Not me, Marty,” She said. The girl coughed nervously.  
“Yeah, I may have, kind of,” Marty said haltingly, “eaten a Devil Fruit, but I don’t remember when.” Marco and Ace were staring at Marty when the door opened causing Ace, who was still leaning against it, to fall backwards through the door way. Jozu stared down at Ace lying on the floor before looking up at the rooms other occupants.  
“Pop wants to see you.”


	7. Educational Weapons

. . .  
“Pop wants to see you.”  
Nee-nee frowned.  
“All of us?” Jozu nodded.  
“But, I didn’t-,“ The Cake protested, but cut off when Marty slung here arm around her shoulders and began dragging her toward the door.  
“Relax Cake, we’ll tell him you had nothing to do with it.” Marty grinned, but it was slightly forced. Ace pushed himself up onto his elbows.  
“Us too?” Ace asked gesturing to himself and Marco.  
“That’s what all of us means, Cowboy,” Marty said, stepping over him, Nee-nee getting reluctantly dragged behind her.   
Beth watched Ace glaring at Marty with a small smile on her face, then got off the bed and walked over to the door Marco was still holding open. Leaning over the top of Ace who was still on the floor, she poked her head out the door.  
“Do you even know where you’re going?” She called, causing Marty to pause and drop Nee-nee.   
“Oi!”  
“I guess not.” Beth shook her head and pushed her way out of the door with Marco close behind, obviously worried something else would blow up if they wandered off. Ace grumbled as he climbed to his feet, but shadowed Marco’s lead in hurrying after the girls. Considering their track record, the idea wasn’t so farfetched.   
. . .  
It had been a short walk.  
Marty stood before Whitebeard for the second time in one day… and she missed her plank. She had left it back in the room.  
Whitebeard gulped down the last of his sake and threw away the bottle.   
“So… you’ve caused trouble on my ship,” He said slowly looking between the girls. The blond one was immaculate, where the other two looked even worse than when they had come on board. The two commanders leant against the wall to watch the exchange.  
“I had no part in anything, I didn’t even leave the room,” said Charlene tiredly at the same moment when Marty said.  
“Everything we blew up, we blew up by accident,” she paused, “well except for the candle, but that was Beth's fault,” she volunteered cheerfully, while Beth glared at her.  
“Candle?” Whitebeard said, confused. Ace sighed.  
“The explosion that wiped out half the store room? They did it with a candle.”  
Whitebeard continued to look confused for a few seconds before chuckling impressed.  
“So Beth the explosion was your fault?”   
“No. Well, yes but no,” Beth summarised. Whitebeard raised an eyebrow. Beth sighed and elaborated.  
“Marty might be a devil fruit user. She doesn’t remember eating a fruit, so I was attempting to see whether it was her causing all the explosions.”   
“How can you not know whether you’ve eaten a devil fruit,” Ace demanded incredulously. Marty shrugged, but didn’t answer. Anything she could have said would have sounded false.   
“She could have eaten it just before getting kidnapped,” Marco reasoned, “ if so she wouldn’t have had time to move about and discover her powers until now, unless,” he glance between the trio, “You were fed it while one board.”   
“I wish,” Charlene grumbled, drawing weird looks from the commanders.  
“We weren’t fed any fruits, devil or otherwise while we were on board that boat,” said Beth calmly.  
“Before then,” Marco concluded, “So what’s your ability?” Marty and Beth looked at each other.  
“…. Explosions?” Said Marty hopefully, that could come in handy.  
“No,” said Beth shaking her head,” You couldn’t blow up the wall or even the candle until it was lit.”   
“You tried to blow up a wall!?”  
“So you don’t know,” said Whitebeard, ignoring Aces question. When the girls shook their heads he gestured for one of his nurse to come forward, “There is a devil fruit identification book in the library, get it.” The nurse nodded and hurried away.  
Whitebeard turned his gaze to the first and second division commanders.  
“What’s your take on all this?” Ace was still glaring at Marty, but Marco shrugged.  
“They didn’t want to stay in their room so they chose option two and destroyed the ship.” Beth glanced at the man.  
“You say that like we chose the stupid option, but which would you pick.”   
“We would have stayed in the room of course,” spluttered Ace While Marco turned hard of hearing. Beth raised her eyebrow.  
Whitebeard chuckled at the sight of his two commanders backing down.  
“They would have done the exact same thing,” he agreed, he looked thoughtful for a moment before obviously coming to a decision, “Ace, Marco, first thing tomorrow morning I want you to take the girls onto the top deck and teach them how to fight.” There were several minutes of silence.  
“WHAT!” exclaimed Nee-nee, “You can’t be serious? My father is- ow!” she cut off as Beth did a karate chop to her head.  
“I don’t think now’s the time,” Beth said smiling slightly. The nurse who had been sent out in search of the book chose that moment to return, cutting of any further protestation from Charlene.  
She walked up to Marty and transferred the large volume she was holding into her possession. Marty staggered as she took the book’s full weight. Damn, that nurse must be stronger than she looked.  
“That book holds record of every known Devil Fruit, as well as their appearance and their powers,” said Whitebeard successfully drawing Marty attention away from checking the nurse out for hidden muscles, “If come across a fruit that you recognise let one of the commanders know.” Whitebeard looked around at his audience, “Alright that’s everything, you can go.”  
“Captain,” Marty turned to see none other than Marta step forward, “perhaps the girls should eat with the nurses for their first night,” she said respectfully. Whitebeard nodded consent, but his attention was already elsewhere as he reached for a new bottle of sake.  
“Do so,” he said breaking the bottles seal to take a long draught.   
. . .  
How to explain meal time aboard the Moby Dick. Marty ducked and a plate flew over her head to smash against the wall. Marty was impressed, she’d seen calmer riots.  
The dining hall was loud and crowded; food was disappearing as quickly as it was laid onto the table. Manners were a lifestyle choice, but not a very popular one. Every so often a group would burst into song, or start fighting. Marty’s eyes widen, or both at the same time it seemed. It was messy and chaotic and downright dangerous. A smile spread across Marty’s face, it was the best thing she’d seen all day.  
Marco grinned slightly at the abject horror on the blonde girl’s face before following Ace over to the commanders table.  
“If this is how they eat dinner, I can wait to see them throw an actual party,” said Beth impressed. Martha grinned.  
“The nurses dining hall is separate,” she said, moving around the edge of the room to a swinging door in the far corner, “from tomorrow eat in whichever room you choose, but for tonight I think it best you eat with us,” she smiled at them as she lead them through the doors.  
The nurses dining hall was set up in much the same way as the crews, except the noise level was limited to quiet chatter. Marty looked around, slightly disappointed, there wasn’t even one group singing.  
Marty slammed her book down at the place setting next to Beth, and then forgot all about it for the next hour as she, Beth and the Cake ate with a single-minded determination.  
The trio had eaten naught but scraps for several days past, and the mounds of delicious food was causing Marty to tear up.  
Martha laughed at the look of pure joy on the straw hatted girls face as she wolfed down enough food to fill a grown man… and then some. The green haired girl was no better; even the blond girl was having trouble keeping up proper dining etiquettes.  
“This food is amazing!” Marty said after her sixth serve. The nurse seated around them laughed. One nurse, who had black hair and skin the colour of coffee, leaned across the table towards them.  
“Were you guys really responsible for all that madness today?” She asked curiously, several nurses around them paused in their conversations to hear the answer.  
In her haste to answer Marty managed to inhale quite a large portion of food down the wrong pipe.  
“They were,” Nee-nee supplied as Beth thumped the choking girl on the back. The dark-haired girl looked impressed.  
“How’d you do it? Why were you in the men’s bathroom? Are one of you a fruit user? Why did you blow up the storeroom? Why are you covered in black powder? Couldn’t you have stayed outside the room?” She asked in a rush. Nee-nee blinked at the torrent of questions.  
“Uuurm…” She said helpfully.  
“Accident, accident, yes, from the explosion, we weren’t actually aiming to create an explosion,” said Beth distractedly, attention still on her suffocating friend.  
“So one of you is a fruit user? We thought so,” the girl continued in a rush,” Which one of you is it? What’s the ability?”  
“Isn’t it good manners to introduce yourself before asking twenty questions,” said Nee-nee slightly miffed. The girl just grinned.  
“Rose,” the girl said with a grin, “So who is it? What is it?” she continued, unperturbed   
“It’s Marty,” Nee-nee said flippantly.  
“But we are unsure of her ability,” finished Beth as Marty finally started breathing.  
Rose nodded and opened her mouth to let loose another torrent of questions, but Martha stepped in.  
“Enough Rose,” she grinned at the girls who had finally finished their meals, and now looked exhausted “If you’d like, I can show you the way back to your room,” she offered.   
“Yes please,” said Beth thankfully, rising from her chair. Marty grabbed her book and hastened to follow.   
. . .  
“… Just stick to the edge of the room and we will be fine,” Martha said warily. The girls nodded and began following the nurse in single file. In the hour they had been eaten, the dining room hadn’t calmed down in the least. If anything it had gotten louder, more chaotic.   
They made it halfway.  
They had actually been doing well up until that point, and then by an unhappy coincidence, a fight broke out around them.  
When a fight broke out, Marco didn’t even pause in sculling his drink. Fights were more common than clean air on the Moby Dick. He took his time draining his mug before casually glancing over at the fight to see a girl boasting a straw hat slam a large book into one of the other brawlers face. Marco blinked, stared, and then registered that those three had somehow managed to get in trouble again.  
“Aren’t those the three kidnap girls?” Hummed Jozu confirming Marco’s fear. Thatch dramatically leapt to his feet.  
“We must help the poor damsels!” He exclaimed racing towards the brawl, Jozu following calmly behind. Marco rose to go help them when Ace snorted.  
“Don’t let them hear you call them that,” Ace mumbled into his drink. Marco frowned.  
“…You’re not going to help?” Ace raised his eyebrows, looking pointedly at the three girls. Marty was taking on a pirate twice her size with a book half her weight and holding her own. With no weapon, educational or otherwise, Beth had resorted to slamming the toe of her boot into the shins of the brawlers around her. Even Charlene was helping by letting the girls know when a crew member got too close by screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs.  
“… They’ve got it covered,” Ace said dryly. Marco watched Thatch and Jozu muscle their way through the fighters to reach the girls, then shepherd them over to the exit.   
“Well,” Marco said sitting back down, “Teaching them to fight shouldn’t be too hard.”   
. . .  
“M’ladies,” said Thatch holding the door open with a bow.  
“Thank you,” Said Cake, walking gracefully into the room to perch on the bed. Marty grinned at the large, silent man behind her.  
“You too, Commander Jozu,” she said cheerfully, “thanks for getting us out of there,” Marty grinned at the freckly nurse who had followed them, “G’night Martha, thanks for taking care of us.” Martha waved cheerily then moved off towards the nurse’s quarters. Jozu smiled at the girls before taking hold of Thatch’s shoulder and dragging him down the corridor after him.   
“Goodnight, my darlings!” Thatch called through the door as it swung shut. Beth giggled then glanced at herself and Marty.  
“Shower first?” She asked quietly. Marty glanced at her and nodded.  
“Shower first,” she confirmed dropping the Devil Fruit encyclopaedia onto the desk.


	8. Conquer my furry minions!

Marty flipped over a page to be confronted with a purple banana.  
“Why would anyone want to be able to turn into a tree,” she asked incredulously. Beth shrugged behind Marty’s back. Marty was sitting at the desk, while Cake made use of her bed, and Beth spread out on hers.  
“Good camouflage,” Beth said without opening her eyes.  
“But it’s not even a cool tree!” protested Marty, “You turn into a palm tree. I would as least want to turn into a Chestnut tree or a Sugar Maple.” Marty turned to the next page.  
“Mmm, I suppose being able to control animals would be cool… RISE MY FURRY MINIONS, GO FORTH AND CONQUER,” she exclaimed suddenly, laughing when the other girls jumped.   
Charlene rolled her eyes and turned to Beth who was having trouble not laughing.  
“Why do you think Whitebeard wants us to learn to fight?” Beth glanced at her thoughtfully, all laughter gone.  
“… I assume because he wants us to remain in his crew,” She answered while Marty cackled in the background over some fruit ability. Charlene harrumphed.  
“Why would I want to stay on this crew? My father – “  
“Yeah we know.”  
“What’s the point in being able to turn into an octopus if you can’t swim?” Said Marty thoughtfully.  
“Extra arms?” said Beth closing her eyes again.  
“Ah! Of course,” Marty turned to the next page and froze. Wait… that? She tore her eyes away from the picture to read its caption.  
Yaosu Yaosu Fruit.  
Beth opened her eyes, it was quiet. This was the longest Marty had been quiet since she opened that book. Beth sat up to look at the purple haired girls back as she sat immobile staring at the page.  
“Marty?” Beth asked curious, she got to her feet and moved to peer over the girls shoulder at a picture of what looked like a giant strawberry; it was the right colour and everything, which was weird for a devil fruit.  
“What does that one do?” Marty blinked out of her trance, glancing at Beth before looking back to the page.  
“Yaosu Yaosu Fruit,” Marty read aloud, “Type – Paramecia, also known as the Element Fruit. Grants the user limited control over the four elements, “  
“Air, Water, Fire, Earth,” nodded Beth interested.   
“However the user is unable to generate the elements. They can control matter already in existence, but cannot bring that matter into existence.” Marty continued, “Nor can the user transform their body into any of the four elements, and are therefore vulnerable to a physical attacks.” Beth whistled.  
“Small setbacks for such a power,” she reasoned, Marty nodded still staring at the page. Nee-nee, who had sat up to watch the exchange, frowned.  
“What’s gotten into you?” she asked irritably. Marty continued to stare at the page.  
“I… Well… I may have… eaten a strawberry… that looked exactly like that,” She said haltingly. Beth and Nee-nee gawked at her as what she had said sunk in, “Which means…” Marty continued, “my devil fruit…Thing, is probably Yaosu Yaosu.” She looked at Beth.  
“It beats turning into a tree I suppose,” Marty reasoned. Beth laughed, “I would have like being in control of kittens though.” Nee-nee snorted.  
“Good lord,” She said incredulously, “Not too shabby for as Devil fruit ability’s go, are we going to go notify one of the commanders?” Marty glanced out the porthole window and shook her head.  
“Tell ‘em in the morning,” Marty said closing the book. She stood then collapsed back down onto the futon. Beth nodded in agreement.  
“It’s not like she can destroy anything else in her sleep,” she reasoned.  
“Challenge accepted,” said the Yaosu Yaosu user sleepily. Beth grinned and blew out the candle.  
. . .  
“WAKE! UP!” Beth shot upright, looking around groggily for the source of the noise. Charlene sat up in a huff, her hair in a rats nest.  
“Five more minutes,” mumbled Marty as she pulled her pillow over her head. Someone thumbed on the door again.  
“Up! Are you decent? I’m gonna open the door,” Marco called. Nee-Nee sighed, then felt her hair and screamed.  
“No! We are not decent!” she shouted and rushed into the bathroom slamming the door behind her.  
Marty thumped her forehead against the mattress in a vain effort of blocking out the sound, while Beth staggered to her feet.  
“Yeah, we’re decent.”  
“No we are not,” grumbled Marty, head still under the pillow, “decent people get to sleep longer.” The door opened anyway and Marco stuck his head through.   
“Come on get up, time to teach you lot how to fight”  
“Oh… goody,” said Marty finally pulling her head out from under the pillow, “do we at least get breakfast?” she asked, pushing herself up onto her elbows only to get hit on the head by an apple. Beth caught hers and Nee-nee’s.  
“Look at that breakfast in bed, I will be back in five minute so be ready,” Marco said grinning. He pulled his head back and closed the door just as Marty’s pillow slammed into it.  
. . .  
“This is outrageous!” grumbled Nee-nee, whose hair was now curly and ordered. Marty had to agree, what kind of people wake up at the crack of dawn!? It was inhumane. The girls stood on the deck of the Moby deck, across from them stood Marco and Ace, who looked about as happy as they felt. There was a collection of weapons ranging from all sorts of guns to swords to what looked like a club, all sitting peacefully on a stand. Apart from some crewmembers that had pulled the last night-watch and had chosen to stay and observe, over going to bed, the deck was otherwise deserted. Marco cracked his neck.  
“Alright who wants to be first?” he asked smiling. What happened next surprised everyone.  
“I will,” said Nee-nee the Cake stepping forward, “on one condition.”   
“… What’s the condition,” asked Marco recovering from his shock. Ace just stared at the girl wondering if someone had slipped something into his drink last night. Or even if someone had managed to slip something into hers, if so he would have to send them flowers.  
“I get to choose the weapon,” she said flipping her perfectly ordered hair over her shoulder. Marco nodded, frowning slightly.  
“Of course, you all can,” he replied. Marco shook his head in disbelief, and then clasped his hands together, “very well Charlene, what’ll it be.” Nee-nee walked over to the weapons rack and studied the available options. After a few seconds she selected a long, thin sword that, to Marty, looked like a giant toothpick.  
“…Swords it is,” said Marco as he picked up a similar sword. He wasn’t too brilliant at swords, actually, he wasn’t that good at sword fighting at all. He generally preferred hand to hand combat, but he was sure he could handle the little doll-like blond girl. He just had to be careful not to stab the girl by accident.  
Mart and Beth backed off slightly to watch Nee-nee and Marco face off against each other. Beth’s eyes were narrowed, thinking, there was no way that girl would ever nominate herself for a beating, let along volunteer to go first.  
“Just… try and stand your ground for as long as you can,” Marco said doubtfully, “…Ready?” Nee-nee nodded, she stood with her feet apart and the blade held horizontally in front of her, level with her chest. Marco frowned, it actually looked like she had done this before.  
“On my mark,” said Ace eyes flicking between them, “go.”  
It took Marty several minutes to register what happened next. Nee-nee, annoying, whiney, pampered, Nee-nee, ran at Marco startling him. It a flurry of blows she had Marco first backing away, and then disarmed. His sword clattered to the deck as hers flicked up to rest against his collarbone.  
“Yield,” she commanded, panting slightly, and the whole ship went catatonic.   
Ace burst out laughing, breaking the trance.  
“WHOOO GO YOU DELICIOUS CAKE YOU!” cheered Marty, said Cake glared at her out of the corner of her eye, before lowering her sword and stepping beck.  
“I told you not too call me that,” she protested as Marty continued to whoop. Beth was grinning in amazement.  
“How, in this world and the next, did you just manage to do that?” she demanded. Cake looked at her haughtily as she placed the sword back on its stand.  
“I am the daughter of a noble, family, my father is the Mayor of Billion’s cove after all,” she said smugly, “fencing is a noble men and women sport, and as such is a detrimental part of our education.”  
“That makes thirty,” Laughed Marty, “what an eventful day!”  
“The day’s only just started,” Beth reminded her, but she was also grinning. Ace was on his hands and knee’s banging his hand against the decks surfaces as he attempted to get control over himself.  
“You!-shishishiHAHAHAHAHA, you got, HAHAH, you got beaten by the little princess, hehehehe HAHA oh gods HAHAHAHAH,” Ace laughed uncontrollably. Marco glared at him annoyed.  
“Are you quite finished?”  
“Oh! Oh,” Ace gasped, “I haven’t even gotten started… pfft HAHAHAHAHAHA”   
“If you’re so brilliant you can take the next two,” Marco said miffed. Ace chortled.  
“Hehehe, whatever you say, shishishi,”Ace got to his feet wiping away tears of mirth, “Ah –oh dear, to funny.” He sighed happily, and then turned grinning to the other girls.  
“Alright green fairy, you can go next, pick your punishment,” he said cheerfully gesturing at the stack of deadly weapons. Beth nodded and walked over to the rack. She browsed through the guns finally settling on some sort of pistol. Marty wasn’t sure, she didn’t know gun types. Beth glanced at ace.  
“So are we shooting still targets, or would you like me to try and hit you,” she asked calmly. Ace grinned and wandered past the other two girls to the mast and leant against it.  
“The bullets in that gun aren’t sea stone so do your worst,” Marty and Nee-nee glanced at him as if he was crazy then got out of the way. They reached the ships railing, and then turned to watch.   
Ace casually crossed his arms over his chest.  
“Whenever you’re ready, go for your life-!” The words were barely out of his mouth when Beth swung the gun up and set off six shots so quickly and close together they sounded like one. They all hit Ace, perfectly in the centre of his forehead, passing through to embed themselves in the mast behind him.  
Ace blinked then turned to stare at the six bullets clustered tightly together in the mast. Beth grinned triumphantly while Marco laughed.  
“Seeing you shot six times in the head makes me feel slightly better,” Marco said pleased. Ace turned back to Beth looking completely impressed.  
“You’re a hell of a shot,” he said thoughtfully while Marty cheered in the background. Beth smiled peacefully.  
“My families in the arm’s dealership,” She explained, “My father’s one of the best gun makers there is. He figured if we make the guns, we have to know how to use them.”  
“DAM STRAIGHT YOU GO GIRL! SHOOT THE GUY IN THE FOREHEAD!” Ace glared at the straw hatted girl.  
“Don’t be so cocky, you’re next,” Ace reminded her. Marty blinked and dropped her hands down to her sides. Oh… goody. Beth saw Marty’s excited expression fall away as she walked towards the two girls. She grinned at the girl, and then leaned against the rail next to her.  
Ace watched Beth whisper something into Marty’s ear. Marty glanced at her uncertainly then moved until she was standing in front of Ace. Ace raised an eyebrow.  
“Well? What weapon will it be?” Marty glanced at the weapon rack almost longingly before returning her gaze to Ace.  
“None,” she said quietly, “I don’t know how to use them anyway.”  
“Well the whole point of us teaching you is that you will learn,” Ace said. Marty shrugged, “Alright, if you’re sure, hand-to-hand it is.”  
I’m. So. Screwed. Try using your Devil fruit? How the hell do I do that! Thought Marty, glancing sideways at Beth.  
“Ready?” Ace asked as her gaze flicked back to him. No!  
“Yes,” her traitorous mouth replied. Ace nodded feeling slightly sorry for the girl, she looked so nervous.   
“Ok, go.” Time seemed to slow right down. Marty saw Ace running towards her. There was a strange feeling in her stomach as she took a step backwards. This was gonna hurt like bitch, wasn’t it? Her mind thought helpfully. She threw up a hand to shield her face, and suddenly a wave of water flew onto the deck slamming into Ace. It sent him racing towards the railing. Beth threw herself out of the way but Charlene wasn’t quick enough. Ace crashed into her and they both toppled over board.  
Marty sat down hard, staring at the place they had just been.  
“I did that?” she said in wonder. Marco shook himself out of his stupor.  
“MAN OVERBOARD!” Marco yelled running over to the railing, “DEVIL FRUIT USER OVERBOARD!”


	9. Nevermind, go here theres 35 chapters

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8568354/9/Purple


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